Tribune-Review – Quantum Theatre’s 25th anniversary season will welcome back some collaborators of the past and introduce a few new ones.
The 2015-16 season also will see the launch of a new program that honors a longtime board member with a platform for developing artists.
The season opens with “The Winter’s Tale,” a world premiere opera, from Sept. 16 to Oct. 3. The show is based on Shakespeare’s text, and will include singers, an all-period orchestra of 12 musicians, and four dancers. Collaborating on the show, which will be performed at the Union Trust Building, are Chatham Baroque and Attack Theatre.
The Gerri Kay New Voices Program will present “Chickens in the Yard,” Nov. 20 to Dec. 6, by Hatch Collective (writer Paul Kruse, director Adil Mansoor, and producer Nicole Shero). Kay was a supporter of Quantum from its earliest days. The program will give Hatch Collective access to Quantum’s audience. “Chickens in the Yard” is the story of fragile couples and developing, unconventional families.
Scottish playwright David Harrower, whose work “Knives in Hens” was previously produced by Quantum, returns with the American premiere of “Ciara,” Jan. 29 to Feb. 14. Mary Rawson will play Ciara, the daughter of a mob boss who escaped a life of crime for a life of art. She runs a gallery and champions local artists. Pittsburgh artist Robert Qualters will create a set of his painting, animated by filmmaker Joe Seamans.
The season closes with Ibsen’s “The Master Builder,” April 1 to 24. The show is a collaboration with the Heinz Architectural Center of the Carnegie Museum of Art, which is conducting a year-long exploration of Modernism. The play follows one of Ibsen’s most iconic characters, architect Halvard Solness, whose principles drive him past any conventional morality and ultimately destroy him.
